Hey, Juliet
by Sotong sotong
Summary: Allen does not take too kindly to being called as Shakespeare's tragic heroine from Love Story by a certain redhead and is allergic to poetry. However, he does take to a little ice-breaking from said redhead. High school AU. LavixAllen. Might update
1. A Ruffled Juliet

He was an idiot, I assessed, for coming up and calling me Juliet in class although I'd never met him before and my ID tag clearly stated Allen. Upon my correction, he scoffed , said that I was a prissy before claiming that the name of Shakespeare's tragic heroine suited my looks , just cuz I had my hair up in a lil' ponytail. I didn't like it one bit so yeah, I stood up to the sexist moron.

' Juliet's supposed to be a fair maiden with flowing locks of deep gold. Seeing how long-sighted you are, let me tell you that I have white hair.'

Green eyes twinkled, as if they were dancing from the mirth reflected within while his lips pulled into a mocking smirk. I didn't see it coming till I felt that damn flick on my forehead.

' Litreature is subjective, dude. Juliet could have had a bob, a 'Rachel' or even a Mohawk and she'd still be Juliet 'cuz in the end, it all boils down to our imagination. Our definition of her beauty.'

I snorted.

' Fact of the day: Juliet's a girl, I'm a guy. Thus, I rest my case.'

' Fact of the day: You're prissy enough to be one, you've got that ponytail and no matter how much you protest or how many times you come up with plots to cut my tongue off and boil it in, say , carrot soup, I'm sticking to Juliet.'

With that, he shrugged and grinned so wide that it was maddeningly similar to a certain fictional head-juggling striped purple cat. To be honest, nobody ever had me this riled up.

Or this stumped.

I wasn't much of a social animal, never had the knack for all the getting chummy-chummy and opening-your-heart-to-people shit so I generally steered away from my fellow homo sapiens, with the exception of my good for nothing guardian and the old lady next door. I liked the way her aged features eased as she smiled whenever I came over to play with her cat, Babar.

So when this total stranger, messy red hair and all, popped up and awarded me that honourably-feminine-my-ass title, my first move was to raise my defences, to push him away with rudeness. Other people, well, NORMAL people would have been offended and left in a huff but he didn't. There he was, right in front of me, not giving a damn about randomly giving a random person so irritatingly random a nickname.

I scratched my head, frustration pounding at my abused brain. The idiot had me stumped alright.

The next damn minute, the next fucking thing he said threw me completely off my feet.

'Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?  
>Thou art more lovely and more temperate:<br>Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,  
>And summer's lease hath all too short a date.'<p>

He paused for breath.

I silently begged for sweet mercy.

He continued reciting in that nauseating British lilt.

I kissed my tattered sanity a painfully dear goodbye.

' Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,  
>And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;<br>And every fair from fair sometime declines,  
>By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;<br>But thy eternal summer shall not fade  
>Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;<br>Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,  
>When in eternal lines to time thou growest:<br>So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,  
>So long lives this and this gives life to thee.'<p>

By the time he finished, I was barely keeping it together, a victim to poetry crap-induced mental breakdown. Without warning, I grabbed his shoulders and shook him madly.

' What the fuck is the purpose of that horrendously horrid rubbish!'

' I can tell that you're allergic to fine poetry, Juliet.'

More violent shaking.

' IT'S ALLEN, DAMMIT!'

' That was Sonnet 18, a poem by Shakespeare to honour and forever preserve the beauty of his beloved on ink and paper.'

I stopped and let go.

Damn him. No, even better, damn Shakespeare. GODDAMIT, FUCK BOTH OF 'EM FOR THIS MINDFUCKERY.

' Why spout it out?'

He blinked and tugged at his collar, as if in deep thought for a logical reason before yet another shrug and Cheshire-like grin.

' Cuz I think you're beautiful.'

I.. I was afraid.

Afraid of how his annoyingly familiar grin seemed to exhibit the glory of his pearly whites.

Afraid of how his green orbs unflinchingly stared into mine, reflecting neither mockery nor jeer but plain honesty.

Afraid of how his voice never faltered even as he praised a fellow male as beautiful.

Afraid of how openly, how carelessly he aired thoughts and opinions as though words never weighed a thing from the very beginning, not once leaving his emotions unspoken.

His stubbornness, his idiocy, his unabashed indivuality all left me afraid..and guilty for desiring to leave my self-cage of isolation, just so he could shock me, anger me and open my eyes to more nonsense.

Why did Fate have to be such a vicious, old dog for giving in to this ass was like having to down cough mixture. Its bittersweet aftertaste always confounded me .

' S'name.'

'Hmm?'

' Your name.'

He smiled and extended a hand towards me.

' The name's Lavi. Nice to meetcha, Juliet!'

Darn.

' Shizz it, Romeo.'

Laughter errupted as Lavi bent double and gave me a shove on the shoulders.

He was definitely an idiot.

An unusual idiot with an unusually nice laugh. 


	2. A Guilty Juliet

So yeah, we became friends.

That idiot and I became friends.

Lavi and I became friends.

Friends.

Screw it, that can't be right.

Friends know each other, like each other, they trust each other. It's been 3 days, 3 days of absolute madness as well as name-calling on the redhead's part, and we barely know anything but our names while trust can just go flying out of the window although Lavi did seem to take a liking towards me.

Why the hell did I give in back then? When did I get so fucked up as to forget the reason why I hated this friendship shit? How could I even think of letting anyone through after that damn day, that goddamn day when I lost that person, the only one who ever showed me what compassion meant?

I slumped on my desk,covering my ears from the shrillness of the last bell as it rang while the other students began packing and pouring out of class.

It can't be right. We're not friends. We're just not.

A tap on my shoulder startled me and I looked up.

'Yo, Juliet. School's over, wanna head out?'

For once, I didn't snap back, I didn't even glare like how I usually did whenever he called me that damn name. I just stared at him and he stared back at me. My eyes into his, his eyes into mine.

And then he raised his hand towards me, letting a finger slide down my left cheek, deliberately tracing a pattern indented there.

My scar.

I should have punched him, pushed him away or at the very least, flinched.

But I did nothing. I did nothing and I didn't know why I did nothing.

All I knew was that somebody, practically almost a stranger, was touching my face and I wasn't reacting to the sudden contact.

All I could think of was how long, how fucking long has it been since I ever allowed anyone do that to me.

And all I could feel was this sudden sense of nostalgia, a sudden remembrance of a face I'd never get the chance to set eyes on again as Lavi's finger followed the lines of my scar.

Fuck it. Guys were not supposed to be fighting back tears or gulping down that hot lump in their throats.

Seriously, fuck it. I wanted to bang my head on my desk, I wanted to scream till every window in class cracked to pieces, I wanted to weep till my eyes itched and stung. I just wanted to break down so badly.

He stopped and dropped his hand.

' Do you get it now?'

' G-get what?'

' That I'm your friend.'

Fuckshitdamn.

' No. You're not.'

He smiled at me as he grabbed a nearby chair and sat on it. It was a bitter smile though.

' Dude, listen up. It's obvious that you've got issues over God-knows-what and I can safely conclude that its the reason why you keep your distance from everyone, no?'

I clammed up. His eyes focused on mine as he went on.

' You feel guilty if you get close to anyone so you pretend to be a bastard who never cares for anything but you don't get what I get about you. You're an asshole but you're not one by nature. Deep down, you're far too nice.'

He paused and looked away.

' I'm an incredible asshole myself and it sucks. It sucks. So just stop it, stop acting what you're not meant to be.'

His voice was low, almost a whisper, but his words, I heard them loud and clear and that changed everything.

He understood.

'Lavi?'

'Hmm?'

' Are you psychic?'

He still looked away but he's laughing that unusually nice laugh of his.

' Nope, just a fucking asshole, my lovely Juliet.'

Never have I felt as accomplished as I did when I threw one of my sneakers at him and by an awesome twist of fate, it landed on his messy mop of hair.

And never have I fled as fast as I did one-shoe-less now when the redhead lunged towards me, muttering swears of vengeance under his breath.

I got what Lavi was harping about as well.

I was friends with an idiotic asshole , s'all. 


	3. An Enlightened Juliet

I'd like to believe that salvaging my public relations skills wasn't rocket science, that I needn't hesitate or keep my eyes down while responding to people, but hey, what d'ya know? Life's a PMS-ing bitch.

I avoided eye contact.

I couldn't help stuttering.

I farted. During mid-conversation. Twice.

In short, I fucked up each and every time I tried having a civil conversation with someone; that doesn't take the cake though, their reactions towards my sudden willingness of being haphazardly sociable did.

Some gaped.

Some were amused.

Some looked as though Rebecca Black was in the house, belting out 'Friday'.

Couldn't say that I took it all in my stride, couldn't fall back on any cockiness either. Sometimes it hurt; I wondered if I was doing the right thing, whether that person would forgive me for attempting to move on.

Did I even have a damn right to continue living normally?

I had no idea.

But I did have an idea on how to get back at a superbly infuriating redhead currently settled crosslegged atop my class desk; he claimed that this particular vantage point was exceptionally conducive to his mental digestion of 'The Taming of the Shrew'. I was, of course, nonplussed.

' Move it.'

Green eyes peered up from a faded paperback before resuming their previous focus.

' Don't wanna. It's half an hour from assembly anyway.'

' Can't you just read at your own class instead?'

' Nope.'

' Why not?'

Lavi sighed as though I'd just asked the most mundane question ever in the universe.

' Brain stimulation, remember? It's way easier to understand what's going on in the sto-'

I slammed my knapsack into his face. He tumbled backwards and groaned as he lay sprawled on the floor. Needless to say, I joyfully reclaimed my desk.

' W-why are you so always so effing radical in the mornings, Juliet?'

This time, I ignored that damnable nickname and chose to instead smirk down at him, inwardly snickering when I noticed his left cheek had a magnificent bruise.

' Beats me, Romeo.'

' Sadism, PURE sadism. I swear, the only time you ever smile at me is when you're unleashing some form of pain unto my pitiful self!'

' Drama queen.'

' Violent Juliet is violent.'

I slightly raised my knapsack towards him. The redhead paled and frantically waved his hands above his head.

' Easy now, brother! I retract my earlier statement!'

For all his outspokenness and devil-may-cry attitude, Lavi could be such a kid at times. I placed my knapsack down and started unpacking my books as he staggered up.

' Shit. You hit so hard it's almost Yuu-chan-like.'

' Yuu-chan?'

I glanced towards Lavi, only to be met by a paperback held right in front of my nose. It was the same one the idiot had been reading before he fell off. I blinked, confusion running amok before something epicly horrible dawned on me.

' The Taming of the Shrew?'

' Right.'

Fuck.

' ..S-Shakespeare?'

His confounded Cheshire grin suddenly grew a whole lot more feral at that. The damn-him-to-the-hounds-of-hell-please-dear-Lord bastard chuckled deeply, darkly reminiscent of how Sweeney Todd cackled before slitting yet another unsuspecting gentleman's throat.

' Spot on, Juliet.'

Fuckfuckfuckshittyfuck.

' I, Allen Walker, truly apologise from the bottom of all the chambers, ventricles and veins within my heart and seek forgiveness from you, Lavi Bookman. May you commiserate with my unfortunate predicament, kind sir.'

He guffawed there and then, his cheeks red from the strain of laughing like hell, his body nearly collapsing to the floor again as he held one hand over his stomach and banged the paperback on my desk with the other.

' Humble pie sure tastes good, aint it! '

I grimaced; although I highly took relief in seeing the book being repeatedly banged down further and further away from me, my pride was as dented as a plastic bottle plunged into hot water.

Did I mention that life was a PMS-ing bitch?

' So anyways, you free after school?'

' ...Mind putting that frigging thing away first?'

' Shakespeare-scaredy cat.'

I huffed and waited until he had shoved the paperback into his jeans backpocket before replying.

' Yeah, I'm free but if we're gonna feed squirrels with Marmite again, I'll-'

He suddenly clapped his hand over my mouth so as if I'd just uttered his deepest darkest secret and I spluttered when another hand ruffled my hair so effing ROUGHLY.

' After school. Back gate. Don'tcha dare purposely forget about it or I swear I'll recite ' Sonnet 18' till you're ears bleed, ya hear me? '

I narrowed my eyes as I smacked his hand off my face.

' Fine.'

' See ya then, Juliet!'

' IT'S ALLEN!'

That familiar laughter filled the air while he slipped out class and I couldn't help realising a rather suprising fact.

I was never ever awkward around Lavi since the day I first met him.

I never stuttered, I never looked away , I'd just swear at him and his monkey-ish antics.

And whenever he referred to me using his all-time-most-favourite-suckish-feminine nickname for me, I'd yell that my name was Allen.

(AUTHOR'S NOTE! I'm impressed by the fact that no matter how much I slave away, I always ALWAYS scrape at 800+ words ONLY. Oh yes, I could feed squirrels Marmite right now. Not.

And that part bout farting twice? Baked beans makes it all possible. Good ol' baked beans- BASED ON PERSONAL EXPERIENCE) 


	4. An Uncomfortable Juliet

A deal is a deal and well, a deal needs to be kept, even if you were threatened into it.

Thus, I found myself heading downtown, utterly clueless on what the redhead beside me was up to. It didn't help that he was being uncharacteristically quiet either; I should be praising the heavens for this instance of extreme rareness but instead, the prevailing silence horrified me. To be surrounded by words every single day, to be called names, to be acknowledged, I took all these for granted and it didn't hit me how connected I was to Lavi's chatterbox-ness till right now.

It's mystifying how yet another one of his traits made itself a part of my life.

' So…what we're doing today? '

' Something. '

' What something? '

' … '

' Lavi? '

' I said, what something? '

' Oh. '

And once again I waited for a reply, but my patience was only met with no response. I'm tempted to bash my head on the lamp pole that we've just passed.

' …Lavi? '

' Hmm? '

' ….Fuck it. '

He didn't glance over, not even at my mention of the expletive. I ran a hand through my hair. Frustrated.

Speak something, anything.

Please dammit.

(Author's note: THIS FIC IS NOT DEAD! I know I'm an ass for serving u guys with such a short chapter although I haven't updated in like 2 months. My deepest apologies, life has been throwing too many lemons at me and I've been busy selling lemonade if u get what I mean so wait up for a bit and you'll soon see the next chappie up, till then skedaddles! ) 


	5. Chapter 5

A thousand OTLs' and apologies for not updating regularly! Looking back on this, I kinda regret not taking this more seriously. I still have the ideas and the plot flow but I'm right now at a crossroads; should I continue this or not? 'Cuz my current writing style is quite different from what is found here. I'm not sure if anyone is still following this story but if any are, do drop an agreement in and possibly, guilt will kick my ass to work on this fic again. Gods, and I swore that I'll never let this one die last year. eAe;;


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